Traces, Places

 January 2017

After a lot of cogitating,  ' Traces,Places' is the theme I've chosen for CQ Journal Challenge  2017 , hopefully broad enough to encompass  interpretations of  my surroundings in scraps and old quilts. I have big plans ! and  intend to use these as samplers   and try-outs for larger pieces , partly working towards  Cwilt Cymru's next exhibition ( the theme being 'traces')   but also  entries for  other  competitions and exhibitions as well as building up a series of work  based on the breakwaters and sea defenses at Birchington.  

Postcard textile  sketches

  It always takes me a while after I've been doing  an art course  and been bombarded with ideas and techniques to see what sticks, to see what I can take and use in my own work. There was  a lot of useful stuff covered in 'Advanced Painting'  particularly in strategies for starting; choice of colour   and 'steal like an artist ' looking at others work , pinching ideas and making it your own .

Paul Nash

John Piper

 One of the lessons was on using Photoshop or similar, not only at the start  but to look at your own work differently ( eg  reviewing tone, increasing saturation or contrast) and try different scenarios out.  As I've been thinking for a while of using the back of an old red and white log cabin ( I love the holey 'marks'!) ,I'd already been playing with images  using  the 'conte' filter .  The images above are manipulated artwork of Paul Nash and John Piper  while the image below is one of my photos of Birchington
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And then manipulated  copies of my own work 'Bexhill Breakwaters'

 When CQ  Kent group came to visit ( there were 10 of us  packed in the lounge!) I gave a very quick demo of the acrylic  techniques I used ( summarised in a series of posts I did for 'And then we set it on fire... 'blog).  I'd forgotten  the delights of painting over old stitching samples ( below)  

So I'm currently  revising the methods I was using and working on some samples to  try painting on ( a lot of stitching from the back  of a gessoed section of quilt with Perle thread in the bobbin) . Watch this space!